Facebook announces photo-centric look for News Feed

A more visual Facebook

Shares

Facebook today introduced a new look for News Feed, one that reflects the "evolving face" of the service, said hoodie jacket-clad CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

The new News Feed is chopped down, with photos popping off the page and user "stories" front and center. The aim, the FB team noted, is to highlight exactly what it is that people want to share by pushing forward content and letting the rest fade.

The new design is for both desktop and mobile, bringing a uniform look to the Facebook experience on every platform.

As Facebook's Chris Cox said, the idea behind the News Feed redesign is to try to move Facebook out of the way as much as possible, pushing user content to the front and pull back the chrome we've all learned to live with.

Your story, front and center

A picture is worth a lot of words

The bread and butter elements of the News Feed - photo albums, status updates, new connection alerts and liking Pages - have all gotten touch up.

Cover photos, for example, find themselves behind a profile picture when a connection becomes friends with another Facebooker.

Photos albums, Pages and shared and liked articles from news sources are also getting some new-look love.

Logos of publications like the Washington Post will appear next to articles published on Facebook, while articles, attachments and albums created by friends are afforded the chance to shine, Facebook Director of Design Julie Zhuo said.

Mobile look

This new look, Facebook's announcement squad said, is consistent across all platforms - smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktops - yet mobile is the muse for the look.

The idea was to bring the look of mobile to the PC, timely as more users come to Facebook through their mobile devices.

The various feed filters the company introduced today are consistent throughout all platforms as well.

Photo albums in your face

One intriguing addition is the ability to hover over a profile picture of users who've commented on or liked a News Feed feature, such as a video. Those profile pictures, by the way, are now situated on the left hand side of the plus-sized image.

Hovering will populate what that person specifically wrote below the image, a dynamic way to see the snarky or sweet comments left by connections.

The new News Feed will start rolling out on the web today, while it will take a few weeks to get to mobile.

Facebook will be deliberate in its roll out - starting with a small number of users, getting feedback and then sprinkling the revamped News Feed out to more users. You can sign up to join the wait list now.